This month's object is a parian (a type of porcelain often intended to imitate marble) figurine just over four inches high of the Greek mythological figure Ganymede, shown here feeding honey to the god Zeus in the guise of an eagle. The original was sculpted by Danish sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844) on commission from George Granville Levenson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, who commissioned the work in 1817 but did not receive the finished statue until about 1830. This reduced size reproduction was made by the Royal Copenhagen porcelain manufactory whose mark, three blue wavy lines, represents Denmark's three straits that connect the Baltic and North Seas.
Thorvaldsen sculpted several pieces depicting Ganymede, who was in Greek mythology a beautiful young boy who was carried away to Olympus by Zeus to act as cupbearer to the gods. This figurine is based upon Thorvaldsen’s most popular sculpture of Ganymede, and copies were owned by many notable figures including one of Henry W. Longfellow’s literary heroes, German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
The piece is thought to perhaps have been in the house during Henry W. Longfellow’s lifetime, though there is no definitive proof that this is fact. If acquired by Longfellow, it may have appealed to his interest in stories and figures from classical mythology, representations of which can be found throughout the poet’s home. Or perhaps Longfellow became familiar with Thorvaldsen’s work during one of his visits to Rome, where the Danish sculptor lived and worked for part of his own life. The poet and the sculptor are not recorded as having ever met, though they did have a friend in common, Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen.
The mark on the bottom of this figurine indicates a manufacture date between about 1870 and 1890, and it is recorded in a 1912 inventory of the house as sitting on a shelf in the first-floor central hallway, so it was in place when Alice Longfellow was the home’s primary resident (1882-1928), if not earlier. It can be seen exhibited today in the same place where it was displayed 110 years or more ago.